


Let it be known as true (In my hatred I protect you)

by HalloweenEvaa



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: And Gets One, Angst, Bad Parent Talia al Ghul, Bad Parents Jack and Janet Drake, Batfamily (DCU), Childhood Trauma, Damian Wayne Feels, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Past Child Abuse, Protectiveness, Truth Serum, nothing super graphic, poor babies, referenced child death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23284060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalloweenEvaa/pseuds/HalloweenEvaa
Summary: Damian Wayne hates Tim Drake, or does he?A one-shot about brotherly bonding and opening up about Damian's trauma from the league.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Damian Wayne
Comments: 20
Kudos: 319





	Let it be known as true (In my hatred I protect you)

**Author's Note:**

> I worked on this instead of Forging Iron and I don't regret it. 
> 
> I just got taken with this fandom and these brothers deserve better

Damian Wayne Al Ghul, son of Batman, was panicking. 

No scratch that.

He was having a full-blown panic attack.

Tim Drake-Wayne, on the other hand, was confused. 

And positive the whole mess was Dick’s fault.

~~~~~

The day had started normally. 

Or as normal as a day in Wayne Manor could be.

Dick was hanging upside-down on the chandelier. Jason was helping Alfred make breakfast and avoiding Bruce. Cass and Duke were calmly sitting at their respective places at the table, looking at odds with the chaos of the room. Bruce was staring into space like he was regretting his life’s choices. Damian was shouting at his older brothers, insulting and threatening them in turn. Tim was on his second cup of coffee and aware enough to avoid said demon brat’s attempts on his life, however cursory they may be at this point.

Tim had left for work shortly after the Demon Brat left to go do… whatever it was he did instead of going to school like most kids his age. Volunteer at the animal shelter probably. Or hang out with his other friends. 

He came home, got ready for patrol. Everything was going smoothly.

Then while he was punching out a would-be rapist, you’d think criminals would’ve learned by now, Dick jumped on to comms.

There was a burst of static then,

“This is Nightwing, requesting backup.” 

That- wasn’t good.

“Red Robin, what’s wrong?”

Dick’s voice carried a hint of panic, “The warehouse drug bust went wrong. It- It was a trap. They took Robin.”

Tim’s stomach dropped out. 

He raced across the rooftops. Bruce had taken Cass with him to respond to rumors of Joker gas being smuggled into Metropolis. Cass had taken Steph. Jason had broken his com and hadn’t replaced it yet. Duke was asleep. 

Fuck.

It was just him. 

“I’m on my way.” 

~~~~~

By the time he got to the warehouse, Dick was surrounded by at least thirty guys. At least ten bodies littered the floor around him. 

Robin was nowhere in sight.

Tim dropped a few smoke pellets and jumped into the fray. The men were no match for two pissed off bats. 

The goons had the markings of an out of town villain, overconfident and underprepared. 

Tim didn’t care. 

Together they used more force than necessary to put the criminals down. 

It was a good thing Jason wasn’t here, his no-kill streak wouldn’t apply when his brother was in danger. 

Together he and Dick scoured the warehouse for any sign of their baby brother. 

They stood together above the stairs that led to a basement, and shared a look of resolve before they descended.

~~~~~

The basement was dark and full of weapons and syringes. It looked like an experiment. Tim spared a moment to look over the labels on them, Serum V.3.7. 

If before his stomach had been a pit, now it was a chasm.

He wordlessly pointed it out to Dick and they continued forward.

There was a door at the end of the room and Tim braced himself as Dick opened the door.

It didn’t matter how many times something like this played out, there was always an underlying fear that this time would be the time they lost Robin for good. 

The door swung open and Tim gasped softly as he spotted Damian. The boy was unconscious and obviously roughed up, but nothing the boy wouldn’t recover from.

An empty syringe sat on the table in front of them. Tim grabbed it to take a sample of as Dick gently picked up Damian’s listless form.

It felt wrong somehow, to see the ordinarily energetic, angry boy so quiet. He looked so small, and Tim was once again reminded that Damian was still just a child, no matter how the boy pretended to be mature.

A panicked look was shared between the brothers as Tim hit the buttons to summon the batmobile.

As soon as they arrived at the Batcave, Tim pulled the syringe out of his utility belt and swabbed it. Tim put the swap into a chemical analysis machine and willed it to work faster.

Dick laid Damian down on a med cot and called for Alfred.

~~~~~

Damian woke up on a cot in the med bay. His eyes grew wide as he adjusted to the room. 

Tim was still avidly watching the machine, three dirty coffee cups pilled next to him as he queued up test after test. 

Damian shifted in his cot, trying to get a better sense of his bearings. Tim turned around at the sound of the movement.

“Oh thank god you’re awake!” The weight in Tim’s stomach seemed to dissipate as he sighed in relief. Even though he knew the substance wasn’t poisonous, that’d been the first thing he tested, he still hadn’t been convinced his brother would ever wake up. 

And then Tim blinked and remembered that Dick had left to chase down whoever grabbed Dami in the first place. 

And left him with  _ Damian _ .

Alone.

Fuck.

This was all Dick’s fault.

~~~~~

Tim stood up and approached Damian the same way he would a dangerous animal. 

“Why am I in the Med Bay Drake?” Snapped the boy.

“Warehouse raid went sideways. How are you feeling?”

“I am not in optimal condition.” 

Holy shit. 

_ Damian _ just admitted he wasn’t okay. 

“Fuck, fuck! Okay, what’s wrong?” Tim attempted to collect himself.

“Wrists feel chafed, at best guess less than an hour in GCPD grade handcuffs, pounding in the head and general discomfort. Beyond that,” Damian hesitated looking for all the world like he would rather not say what came next, “I am unclear.”

Damian admitting that he doesn’t know everything?

Something was very, very wrong.

“Hold tight Dami, I’ll comm your favorite brother.”

At this, Damian looked very confused so Tim elaborated, “Dick?”

“Tt. Grayson is not my favorite brother.”

At this Damian covers his mouth with his hands, horrified.

Tim freezes, a sudden, horrifying thought emerging.

Truth serum? He hadn’t tested for that. 

Stupid. Tim was so stupid. 

Mouth running without his permission he asked, “Damian, who is your favorite brother?”

Mother would have slapped him for losing his self-control. 

Damian’s eyes go wide as he answers, “You are Drake.”

Tim felt like he had been struck by lightning, stunned. But that wasn’t his biggest problem as he looked helplessly at his brother.

Damian Wayne Al Ghul, son of Batman, was panicking. 

No scratch that.

He was having a full-blown panic attack.

Tim Drake-Wayne, on the other hand, was confused. 

And positive the whole mess was Dick’s fault.

But that was neither here nor there and right now his little brother needed him.

Tim shook his head violently and crouched down.

“Dami, Dames, Damian! Listen to me, It’s okay, you’re okay.”

Damian tilted his head up and Tim could see the tear tracks running down his brother’s face, the boy’s eyes unseeing.

Tim’s heart broke as his little brother started speaking in Arabic, frantic, “'Asasiin, raja' la, 'umi!”

Tim’s brain whirred to translate the words, even as he tried to get his brother to calm down.

Cardinal, please no, Mother!

Cardinal? 

Perhaps a league name? 

He could ask Damian later when he wasn’t panicking. 

“Come on Damian, match my breathing, you can do it!”

Damian nodded, finally hearing Tim. 

They sat together, just breathing until Damian had re-joined Tim. 

Then they just stayed there, Damian’s shoulders shaking, until Tim wrapped his arms around his brother, hoping he was reassuring. 

Damian fell asleep like that. In Tim’s arms. 

Tim tried to set the boy down in his bed, but as soon as his arms stopped touching the boy, he had cried out in his sleep. 

Damian would have never allowed himself to sound so small had he been awake, but asleep he was vulnerable, looking every bit as small and fragile as a baby kitten. Tim mourned that this fragility had been stolen, that awake Damian could never be a child. 

He hadn’t had the heart to leave the boy alone. 

Tim had grown up too fast and alone, but that was different.

That was Tim. So it was okay. 

But not Damian, never Damian. 

And with this thought, Tim fell asleep. 

~~~~~

Tim Drake’s Priority Number One

~~ His parent’s approval ~~

~~ The mission  ~~

Damian.

~~~~~

The sun rose and Damian awoke rapidly, startling Tim.

“Ahh! What the fuck!”

Damian took a second to visibly recollect himself.

“Tt. It appears you are in my bed chambers, Drake.”

“Wow. Seems like you're feeling better!” 

“Indeed.”

Lie. 

Tim knew from experience that you didn’t just bounce back from a mental health hit like that.

He didn’t call Damian on it. 

The good news was it meant Damian was back to being able to lie.

“So, who’s Asasiin?”

Damian startled.

“Where did you hear that name?” The boy demanded.

“Last night, you muttered it while panicking. You said something about my being your favorite brother then had a panic attack.”

The fight abruptly left Damian’s body. 

“She was my first, and only, friend in the league.”

“Was?” Tim tried to gently probe.

Damian let loose a choked half-sob.

“Was. She had been four. I was six. They named her cardinal for her red hair and spring spirit. We were friends, she was small, kind and happy. She shouldn’t have been with the league,”

Tim wanted to tell Damian he shouldn’t have been with the league either, but stayed silent, out of respect for the obvious difficulty Damian had telling the story. 

“I was selfish, stupid. I shouldn’t have let her close.

Mother warned me. Friends will only cause pain in the end. 

I took her with me as Mother and I traveled to Grandfather’s court. He- he noted my affinity for the girl and ordered me to kill her.

It was the only order ever I refused. 

I wish I hadn’t. 

At least then her death would have been quick and painless. As it was, grandfather had me chained and beaten. He would have killed me, but sweet, stupid Cardinal offered to take my place.

Just as he knew she would. 

I was without food for days as I watched them torture and kill her.

I did not look away once, it was my penance for killing her.”

At this Tim could stay silent no longer. 

“No Damian, It was not your fault. It was your grandfather’s. Look, the league is messed up. And wrong. None of that was your fault.” 

Tim once more wrapped his arm around Damian. 

His little brother’s stone facade cracked and he started crying.

“But It was!”

“Damian, do you blame Dick for being unable to save his parents?”

“I -I suppose, not.”

“Yeah. And do you blame Jason for stealing the batmobile’s tires?”

“No.”

“You were just a kid Damian, hell you still are, it’s not your fault. You did the best you could at the time. That’s all any of us can do. Even me. Even Bruce.”

Damian just nodded.

“Is that why you hate me and always try to kill me?”

“I do not hate you, Drake. But I try to. Because maybe if I just try hard enough, I will. And then it won’t hurt so much when you die.”

“Damian. You can’t live like that. I know it’s hard, I know it’s scary. But you can’t live alone. People come and go. They leave, and it sucks, and I wish I could tell you, you get used to it, but you don’t. It’s always gonna hurt, but that’s part of being alive. So you cling to the ones you have as long as you can, you take care of them and you enjoy them as much as you can while you have them. I can only promise you this, it  _ will _ get better. You just have to stay alive long enough to see it.”

“Okay, Dra- Tim.”

Tim smiled then, “No problem Damian. Now, what do you say we go downstairs and see if we can’t convince Alfred to let us eat ice cream for breakfast.”

Damian shook his head, knowing full well that it was a useless endeavor, but followed Tim anyway.


End file.
